Commentary on the Seventh Decade

Youth Turns Seventy

There was a short editorial in the New York Times last week noting Ringo’s jumping a decade. The writer made the statement (I’ll paraphrase) that it seemed to him as if youth, itself, has turned 70. I knew exactly what he meant. It seemed to us that boomers actually invented the concept of youth and we didn’t leave it behind in the dust when we moved along the continuum into our twenties, thirties, forties and beyond; youth just moved into the future right along with us! So even if there are “young people” out there, they’re not really “youth” as we defined it!

Of course, there was a letter to the editor the next day in which the writer noted that boomers still thought they were the center of the universe, even having the nerve to co-opt the whole concept of youth, and should just “get over themselves.” But, I do believe the editorial writer said something important that sixty-somethings can get behind: We are hauling youth behind us – like a can attached to a cat’s tail- as we proceed toward the 70 mark. And, look at Ringo, still performing after all these years; he still does have youth by the tail!